Bill-file.



H. BRAEN.

BILL FlLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 4. 1916.

Patented, Apr. 2, 1918.

WITH/588:

HENRY BRAEN, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

BILL-FILE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2, 1918.

Original application filed February 26, 1915, Serial No. 10,716. Divided and this application filed March 4,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY BRAEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bill-Files, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to filing cabinets and the like and it consists in a novel means for locking in a suitable case one or more holders to directly receive the contents of the cabinet, the principal objects being to provide a simple and inexpensive construction, afl'ord means for truing up the holders or other file elements in the cabinet and facilitate their ready looking or unlocking.

My present application is a division of my application Serial Number 10,716, filed February 26th, 1915, now Patent No. 1,193,863.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a filing cabinet provided with my improvements;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of what is shown in Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged views illustrating the locking means, Fig. 8 being a front elevation of fragments of the back of. the cabinet, a file element and the locking means,

and Fig. 1 a side elevation, partly in section,

of the locking means.

Each file elementor holder a, described and shown in detail in my patent above named, has in the back edge thereof an aperture 9 formed with a. restricted portion h extending to said edge, said aperture and restricted portion forming a keyhole slot.

The file elements are stacked in the cabinet so as to be entered or removed each in its own plane, in the present instance vertically-though this is of course immaterial. As herein shown all the file elements in a. stack are adapted when in place in the cabinet to come to bear against elements of the locking means, whereby they are trued up, preferably (though not necessarily) in such a manner that their forward ends are stepped, as fully explained in the said patent.

These elements, or locking rods, of the locking means are each in the form of two leaves a: pivoted together on a spindle i suitably supported at each end in the cabinet, said leaves being foldable against the Serial No. 82,135.

tension of a spring 2 coiled about the spindle and having its ends bearing against the leaves. The leaves are arranged so that they converge upwardly (Fig. 3), so that when a holder is introduced into the cabinet they collapse to permit their passing through the restricted portion h of the keyhole slot in the holder and then automatically expand when the part of the slot is reached, thus preventing withdrawal of the holder. The locking rods are shown inclined in the drawings, so that the file elements, when trued up thereby (by resting thereon in the present instance) are stopped.

Parallel traverse bars 2, pivotally connected to the ends of parallel links 3 pivoted to the back wall at of the cabinet have coacting lugs 5 between which the leaves of the locking bars are arranged. On moving the bars in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 1, the locking bars will obviously be Collapsed. This may be accomplished by the lever 6 which is pivoted to the bars 2 and projects upwardly out of the case of the cabinet. The normal position of the parts is that shown in Fig. 1, and in order to remove any particular holder, it is only necessary to shift the lever 6 to the left to cause collapse of the leaves of the locking bars.

Having thus fully described my invention. what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In combination, a case, a file element arranged therein and removable therefrom in a definite direction, said file element having a keyhole-shaped slot, a normally expanded locking rod comprising leaves pivoted together on an axis adjoining the closed end of the slot, and collapsible by the narrow part of said slot on entering said file element into the case, said rod penetrating the slot, and means to collapse the rod for removal of the file element.

2. In combination, a case, a file element arranged therein and removable therefrom in a definite direction, said file element havinga keyhole-shaped slot, a normally expanded locking rod comprising leaves pivoted together on an axis adjoining the closed end of the slot, and collapsible by the narrow part of said slot on entering said file element into the case, said rod penetrating the slot, and means to collapse the rod for Q r 1,2e1,4eo

removal of the file element including manually actuated reversely moving members engageable with opposite sides of said leaves.

3. In combination, a case, a file-element arranged therein and removable therefrom in a definite direction, said file-element having a keyhole-shaped slot, a locking rod penetrating the slot and comprising leaves pivoted together on an axis adjoining the closed end of the slot, yielding means normally 10 holding the leaves of the rod expanded, and means to collapse the rod.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

HENRY BRAEN,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Pat ents, Washington, D. G. 

